Mentalist Season 6 - Fixed
by The Shroud
Summary: A revision of season 6, to see what heights it could have achieved, done sensibly. As Red John warned, he's begun killing again, often. Very often. As Jane narrows down the suspects, he faces a need to take bigger and bigger risks... risks that could destroy the new life he has created, even as he nears the redemptive fulfillment of revenge for the end of his past life.


**Disclaimer:**

I do not own The Mentalist. I do not own CBS. I do not own anything related to CBS in general, or The Mentalist specifically. At most, a few DVDs of unrelated CBS properties.

**Mentalist, Season 6 - Fixed**

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

**(A Modified Season 5 Finale)**

By The Shroud

**A/N:**

Please review on whatever you can, suggestions, ideas, etc. The beginning has a slight ret-con. And when I say, "soft and gentle voice"... that's Red John.

* * *

_Previously, on __**The Mentalist**__..._

In shock, as his hired assassin just walked away, unwilling to kill a child, Tommy Volker was about to move to finish the job himself... but as he looked around at all the witnesses, he realized he'd have to take out the case in court.

_A few days later, in the morning..._

A judge was walking to his car, when he received a call. "Hello?"

A matter of fact voice. "This is Tommy Volker."

The annoying rich man he'd have to deal with in a few hours. "Mr. Volker, need I-"

"Tyger tyger."

A pause. "Tyger tyger."

_In the courtroom_

Tommy Volker was smiling. "...and due to lack of evidence, this case is dismissed and shall not go to trial."

Lisbon was outraged. Afterwards, Volker walked up to her. "At this point, what with your frequent visits, I'm not so happy to see you again anymore."

Lisbon scoffed. "No, that's just a judge in your pocket."

Volker smiled thinly.

_Just a few hours ago..._

Karen Cross reported, "This morning, it was released that Brenda Shettrick, the CBI Communications Head, confessed to being an informant for various criminals and businessmen, including, startlingly, the famous multi-millionaire adventurer Tommy Volker, who has previously been investigated by the CBI for various crimes, although they were unable to pin him down... until today."

* * *

_Now, in the present..._

Teresa Lisbon walked over to the roof door and knocked loudly.

From the other side, Patrick Jane walked over, unlocked it, and opened it partially. She could tell he was angry about something.

Lisbon asked, "You called me? I have to go to Volker's trial in a few hours. Is this about the disc?"

Jane answered with one word. "Yes."

He let her in, before closing the door behind her.

They walked over to his computer, which was active. Lisbon sat down as Jane stood next to her, and tapped the spacebar.

In the video that was on the disc, Lorelei, selected to prove the date of the creation of the video, began speaking, "Hello Patrick. As you can see, things didn't exactly go as I planned..."

* * *

Lorelei continued, "See? _That's_ clever."

Lisbon stared at the names, in disbelief at Red John's feat as much as at their identities, as the video went on. "But fair's fair, Patrick. The game's changed, so there's new rules now. Eileen Turner's but the first of many. I'm going to start killing again. A lot. Until you catch me... or I catch you."

Lorelei looked up at the camera in worry, before finishing. "And I've already selected the next target. I've noticed you've grown quite attached to your friend Agent Lisbon. Keep her close, hmm."

A surveillance bug was listening to the whole conversation, including the last few words, communicating them to an earbud worn by someone whistling as he walked, looking at the sky. He removed the earbud and dialed a number that immediately received his call, before speaking in a soft and gentle voice. "As soon as they exit."

Without waiting, he disconnected from the call, and dialed another number.

Back on the roof, the video ended, Jane pressed the eject button, picked up the disc... and shattered it with the fingers of his left hand. He looked out the window, feeling paranoid that Red John could be right outside, waiting to pounce and slit their throats.

Suddenly, Lisbon received a call, and Jane's gaze snapped to her phone. "It's... it's one of Volker's numbers."

He suggested, "Pick it up."

She did so, and put in on speaker. A soft and gentle voice spoke through it in a strangely authoritative way. "Hello, Lisbon. A mutual friend of ours lent me his phones, though it took a little... pressure. Why don't you two come outside onto the roof? We should have a nice little chat."

Knowing Patrick would recognize his voice, Red John disconnected again, and dialed another number that automatically picked up his call.

Becoming very pale, Jane spoke shakily, but firmly, "That's him. We can't let him get away."

"Jane, it's a trap. We can't play into his hands like this."

"No, it's a trap, and we can _only_ play into his hands either way. If we play along, we can play to his arrogance and _maybe_ trip him up. So long as we move carefully, we can still win."

Listening, Red John almost chuckled at the mention of _his_ arrogance.

Reluctantly, Lisbon drew her gun, and they walked out-

Only to see a man standing at the edge of the rooftop facing them, wearing a black sweatshirt, hood, cloak, apron and pants, black rubber gloves, a pair of charcoal boots, and a grotesque, red, opaque rubber mask that covers his face... with an outstretched right arm holding a gun, with a silencer, pointed directly at them.

Jane quickly pulled her to the side with him behind a vent just as three bullets struck the door that was behind them, sounding strangely loud yet distant. Jane noted that though the silencer looked exactly the same from last time, the gun looked a bit different. He heard Red John speak casually, "It's good to talk to you again, Patrick. Did you like the disc I sent you? I enjoyed its compilation."

Lisbon moved a bit closer to the side of the vent that Red John was, only for three more bullets to strike it. She whispered to him, "That gun is a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum, by the looks of it, even though its silencer makes it sound weird, so that bit is probably custom. He has two more rounds, max."

He whispered back, "The gun from the Clint Eastwood movie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Can you distract him somehow? You have a rock or something you can use?"

Red John smiled and held his left hand up, pulling the glove off, as Jane answered, "Kind of."

Jane took out his wallet, fished around, until he found a shiny penny, and threw it. Two shots rang out, the penny ricocheting off one of them... and Red John snapped his fingers in a particular, rehearsed manner. Mistaking it for a click, Lisbon went around the corner with her gun arm outstretched just as Jane looked back at the bullet holes and where the penny had bounced to, only to realize they had a different trajectory than expected, meaning... _there was another shooter._

Three gun shots. Jane stepped out to attempt to pull Lisbon back- only to see her standing there and Red John bleeding and swaying slightly.

Red John spoke calmly, as though perfectly fine and walking through a park, "Goodbye, Patrick. I hope to speak again with you soon. And, Lisbon? You're welcome, I suppose."

The corpse swayed back... and fell several stories, to the ground floor.

Red John disconnected. They would find a paralytic in the corpse's blood, a paralytic which was part of a larger storage of the "victim's."

In another building across from the CBI headquarters, where there was a good line of sight to the rooftop, a man disassembled a sniper rifle, placing the parts into a leather bag.

* * *

Jane and Lisbon rushed to the bottom, where a small crowd had formed around the body. As Lisbon showed her badge to the crowd, Jane pulled back the hood, where he noticed a phone was attached to the back, and removed the rubber mask... to see the face of Tommy Volker.

In the park, Red John had walked up to a certain bench, activating a voice changer to scramble any attempts to identify him, and called the CBI director.

Bertram picked up his phone, automatically accepting the call, and responded, a bit anxiously, as he walked down the stairs with his metal briefcase, "Hello, Gale Bertram."

"This is **Red John**. You'll find this phone at that park near here you last talked with Brenda Shettrick in. Well, before she was arrested. Specifically, under the bench you two sat on. And let Patrick know I said hi... again."

Using his right, gloved hand, Red John closed the phone he was holding, opened the back, pulled out the SIM chip, and dropped the phone before stepping on it. Removing his foot, he put back the SIM card, and closed the back as best as possible, before swiping it under the bench. For the CBI's convenience. He wouldn't want to waste their time on trying to find a mistake of his in cleaning up. Not when they'd be too busy finding his newest works of art.

* * *

**A/N:**

And that concludes this prologue. If you're confused, the headcanon/retcon I used is that Volker is a big wheel, source of funds, and intermediary in the Blake Association, and Volker was becoming arrogant, sloppy, and was already on the verge of getting caught, so Red John made him take the fall... somewhat literally.


End file.
